Needs and Wants
by wintergreen825
Summary: Death was decidedly dissatisfied with the care being shown by certain bacteria towards his favorite one. He would have preferred to just reap the impertinent apes responsible, but unfortunately, that option was off the table. Luckily, a bit of research showed a different option just in time for Dean Winchester to catch up with him in a little pizzeria in Chicago. (Picks up S05Ep21)
1. Rings & Pizza

**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if need be.

**Author's Note:** Yes, this is the start of yet another HPxover MC. It is entirely prompted by me hitting Spn S07Ep10 (A Death's Door) and seeing that Bobby Singer's mother is a ginger. …at this point I think I'm just addicted to first chapters.

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 11); MC4A (Swap; WiBingo; DP; TY; Share; War; O3; T3; SN; VV; Cluster; Rum; MLG; RoB; AV; ER; Fence; Star; FF; SoC; PP; NC; SIN; ToS)  
**Individual Challenges:** Logical Crossing; Feast; Hunter MC; Immortal MC; Seeds; Ways to the Heart; New Fandom Smell [Supernatural] (Y); Location, Location, Location; It's the End of the World; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux)  
**House:** Hufflepuff  
**Assignment No.:** Term 11 – Post Assignments  
**Subject (Task No.):** n/a  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Insane Prompt Challenge [744] (Supernatural); 365 [114] (Immense); Galleon Club ("I'm a Ruin" – Marina & the Diamonds)  
**Other MC4A Challenges: **Swap [Outer Wear] (Leather Jacket); Wi Bingo [4A] (Cold); Su Medium 1 (Jewelry)**  
Representation(s):** Depressed Dean Winchester; Death; the Apocalypse  
**Bonus Challenges: **Toto's Tribute; Second Verse (Persistence Still; Teat Juice; Middle Name; Mother Hen; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; Lovely Coconuts; Grease Monkey; Most Human Bean; Rock of Ages; Bad Beans; Uncivil Obedience; Where Angels Fear); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Tomorrow's Shade; Eternal Boredom; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Creature Feature; Abandoned Ship; In the Trench; Turtle-Duck; Call Me Dantes; Cooler Yelp)  
**Tertiary Bonus Challenges:** DP (Immemorial; Terse); TY (Ntaiv; Kulonbozo); O3 (Oath); T3 (Terse; Tether); SN (Rail; Negate)  
**Word Count:** 626

(^^)  
**Needs & Wants**  
Chapter 1: Rings & Pizza  
(^^)

"There are conditions," Death said in the same even tone that he had been using the entire conversation. The words were nearly drowned out by the rain that continued to pound against the glass.

Dean swallowed the snarky comment that immediately formed on his tongue at the declaration. There was no doubt in his mind that Death had not been exaggerating when he had mentioned that he would one day reap God. The other Horsemen hadn't felt as _immense_ as Death. If the most powerful thing that he had ever met wanted to put conditions on his gift-wrapping the end of the Apocalypse, then there were conditions that would be met.

"Okay. Like?" Dean asked hesitantly when it seemed like Death wasn't going to continue unprompted. Death frowned down at his hands holding the ring. Dean's insides squirmed at the displeasure being shown. He shifted in his seat, making his leather jacket drag against the vinyl upholstery on the chair. The scent of pepperoni and mozzarella made Dean's stomach twist as much as the anxiety did.

"The first is obvious," Death continued after swallowing his bite. "You will do whatever it takes to put Lucifer in his cell. Whatever it takes."

Death glared at the ring between his fingers, as if it had personally offended the entity.

"The second is of more importance than ending this tantrum." Death lowered his hands to the table completely. His long fingers rubbed the bisected triangle cut into the ring's band as if to soothe himself. Dean swallowed against the nagging worry growing in his gut. What could make _Death_ anxious when the Apocalypse was barely even a blip? "I have arranged for a package to be delivered to the Sioux City bus depot tomorrow afternoon. This package must be delivered to your Robert Singer and remain in his custody until such a time as I come to collect it personally."

"Just a package? How will I know which one?"

"You will know," Death replied. "It will be obvious, even to you." Death made eye contact, his frown deepening even further. "It is very important that the package stays with your Robert Singer. It will prevent any unnecessary messiness."

"Messiness?" Dean asked before he could stop himself. Death sighed deeper than he had heard anyone other than Bobby do _ever_. He then rubbed one bony hand over his face just like Bobby tended to do when Dean and Sammy were annoying him more than usual.

"_Messiness_," Death agreed without explaining. "Now, do I have your word?"

"Okay, yeah," Dean said. He licked his lips. "Yes."

Focusing on keeping his hand steady, Dean put out his hand, palm cupped upwards to receive the ring. Death still hesitated to let the ring drop. His dark eyes burned with something that Dean would have called _love_ in anything younger than the start of the universe. There was no way that something that was willing to spare Chicago because of the pizza would ever feel that way about anything.

"That had better be a real _yes_, Dean," Death warned as he lowered the ring to Dean's waiting hand. The tips of Death's finger felt like ice or something even colder. "You cannot cheat Death, after all, and I will make you suffer, leash or no, if something happens to that package. Do you understand, Dean?"

"I do," Dean agreed, silently wondering what was so important about this package that trumped the end of the world. Death closed Dean's fingers around his ring and held the newly formed fist for a moment before releasing it. Then he turned his attention back to the slice of deep dish on his plate.

Without segue, Death began to explain how to open Lucifer's cage using the Horsemen rings.


	2. Reaper in a Depot

**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if need be.

**Author's Note:** This chapter got away from me. Much like my anger at reaching the end of season 7 and watching that flask melt. Hence why I wrote another chapter of this instead of starting on my Secret Santa fic. At least it's not due on Christmas exactly.

**Reminder:** FFN does not allow for replies to Guest. You need to sign in if you want to ask questions that cannot/will not be answered by the story continuing.

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 11); MC4A (Swap; Fa Bingo; Hang; TY  
**Individual Challenges:** Logical Crossing; Gryffindor MC; Hunter MC (x2); Immortal MC; Seeds; Golden Times; New Fandom Smell [Supernatural] (Y); Old Shoes [Harry Potter] (Y); Advice from the Mug; Booger Breath; Booger Breath Rider; Rian-Russo Inversion; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux; The Real MC; Two Cakes!  
**House:** Hufflepuff  
**Assignment No.:** Term 11 – Post-Assignments  
**Subject (Task No.):** n/a  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Insane Prompt Challenge [620] (Cardigan); 365 [250] (Fight); Galleon Club ("Crash Into Me" – Dave Mathews Band); Pinata [Medium](Harry Potter)  
**Space Address (Prompt): **Swap [Outer Wear] (Red Cardigan);Fa Bingo [4D] (Frost); Hang [Phase 5] (Sibling Fics – No Incest); Fa Big (Searching)**  
Representation(s):** the Winchester Boys; Reapers as Family; Depressed Dean Winchester; Bisexual Dean Winchester; Tess the Reaper; Desi Harry Potter; BC Use  
**Bonus Challenges: **Mermaid; Second Verse (Under the Bridge; Bad Beans; Rock of Ages; Muck & Slime; Most Human Bean; Grease Monkey; Lovely Coconuts; Unwanted Advice; Mother Hen; Middle Name; Nontraditional; Found Family; White Dress; Persistence Still; Not a Lamp; Ladylike); Chorus (Getting On; Some Beach; Sitting Hummingbird; Call Me Dantes; Turtle-Duck; Surprise!; In the Trench; Head of Perseus; Abandoned Ship; Creature Feature; Unicorn; Larger than Life; Eternal Boredom; Tomorrow's Shade; Mouth of Babes; Peddling Pots; Machismo; Wabi Sabi; Odd Feathers)  
**Tertiary Bonus Challenges:** TY (Enfant); O3 (Oath); SHoE (Terse; Onus); SN (Rail; Negate); T3 (Terse; Tether)  
**Word Count:** 798

(^^)  
**Needs and Wants  
**Chapter 2: Reaper in a Depot  
(^^)

"I'm just saying that with everything going on, this seems a bit ridiculous," Sam said for what had to be the thousandth time as he and Dean approached the doors to the bus depot. Dean didn't bother answering, taking a swig out of his water bottle instead. He had already explained about it being part of the deal with Death. Sammy could go bite himself if he thought Dean was going to waste his breath explaining it _again_, just because he couldn't process it. "Are we absolutely certain that Death isn't just playing with us?"

Apparently, they were going to do this again. He stopped and turned towards Sam.

"He seemed like he was on the level," Dean said lowly. "I'm choosing to trust him. Not like I have much choice in the matter, but it just seems like something that's as old as _Death_ wouldn't play games with bacteria, you know?"

"Death is honest," said a hauntingly familiar voice from behind him. Dean twisted around with all his instincts screaming at him. The petite brunette that was his reaper merely raised an eyebrow at him as if she could sense just how close he had come to drawing a weapon in the crowded depot. Today she was wearing a blood red cardigan over her staple pantsuit. It did nothing to lessen the frosty aura that clung to her presence. "Death will also be… pleased to see you so prompt at getting here. Unfortunately, you're a bit early."

"Tess," Dean greeted the reaper. He hoped his smile was as weak as he suspected it was. "I really hope you're here supervising the package transfer and not because it's that time again."

"Oh, Dean," she replied with a dry tone, "at this point, I'm starting to have my doubts about ever getting to do my job with you." She pursed her lips for a moment. "Or at least doing it in a way that sticks. It's actually getting rather annoying."

"Hey," Dean protested weakly, "it's not my fault that I keep surviving or getting brought back."

"True," she agreed. Then she beckoned them towards the bus that was just pulling into the station. Dean exchanged a look with Sam before they both followed her. "There were a few issues getting everything out of the UK, of course. The rest will take a few weeks to find its way to you. It's been a headache trying to arrange of this—you were cutting it awfully close on catching up with the boss. We were worried that one of us would need to personally take the first load to Robert Singer."

"Wait a sec," Sam interrupted, grabbing one of Tess' arms. She froze for a moment as if stunned before she turned slowly to face the big oaf. Dean barely kept his groan of frustration from escaping at his brother's audacity. What kind of idiot laid their hands on a reaper? "What's even in this package? Is it something that can help us stop the Apocalypse?"

"Package?" Tess asked, clearly confused. "Is that what he called this? Never mind." She declared with a wave of her free arm. "Of _course_ he did. Even his current favorite would barely register on his radar." Her normal zen-like expression hardened into something so frosty that Sammy drop her arm and step back with his hands up in surrender. "If you _ever_ let that slip in front of Harry, I _will_ reap you, and I _will_ find a way to make it stick. Understand?"

"Who's Harry?"

Tess seemed to lose interest in them at Dean's question, turning back to the bus that had arrived. The disembarking people flowed around them in the usual jumble of baggage and exhaustion. An attendant yanked out an honest-to-god trunk from the storage compartment, setting it aside with a grunt. Who the hell traveled on a bus with a trunk?

The last person to exit the bus was an Indian kid with the craziest hair that Dean had ever seen. He also had glasses that sat crooked on his nose and did nothing to hide how green his eyes were. It was almost unnatural how green they were as they scanned his surroundings automatically. The kid couldn't be more than ninety pounds sopping wet, making his clothes seem to hang off of him. The too-large shirt bulged around the strap of the small bag he had crossing his chest—as if he were ready to run at any moment, Dean realized with a start.

The kid looked like a hunter's kid, like he knew that danger lurked everywhere and he had to be prepared to either fight or flee with every heartbeat.

"That's Harry," Dean said without realizing that he was even going to open his mouth.

"That's Harry," Tess agreed.


	3. Rocky Start

**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if need be.

**Author's Note:** If you have a question, you must ask it while signed in to get it answered. FFN does not allow authors to respond to guest reviews.

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 11); MC4A (Swap; FaB; DP; TY; War; Share; T3; SN; O3; SHoE; FPC; BAON; ToS; SIN; NC; PP; SoC; FF; Star; Fence; ER; AV; RoB; MLG; Rum; Cluster; VV)  
**Individual Challenges:** Rainbow Focus; Gryffindor MC; Death's Inevitable Master; Sett to Destroy; Hunter MC (x2); Immortal MC; Seeds; Golden Times; New Fandom Smell [Spn] (Y); Old Shoes [HP] (Y); Above Average Natural; Location, Location, Location; Themes & Things A [Love]; Themes & Things B [Protection]; Advice from the Mug; Ethnic & Present; Neurodivergent; Quiet Time; Booger Breath; Booger Breath Rider; Rian-Russo Inversion; Flags & Ribbons; Letter of the Day; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon (Y); Yellow Ribbon Redux; The Real MC; Two Cakes!  
**House:** Hufflepuff  
**Assignment No.:** Term 11 – Post Assignments  
**Subject (Task No.):** n/a  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Insane Prompt Challenge [200] (Alienation); 365 [148] (Precious); Galleon Club (No using "said")  
**Other MC4A Challenges (Prompt): **Fa Bingo [3B] (Fog/Mist); Swap [Outer Wear] (Purple Sweater); Sp Micro 1 (Fusion)**  
Representation(s):** the Winchesters; Tess the Reaper; Reapers as Family; autistic Harry Potter; the Apocalypse  
**Bonus Challenges: **Hot Stuff; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; Persistence Still; White Dress; Found Family; Nontraditional; Middle Name; Mother Hen; Unwanted Advice; Lovely Coconuts; Grease Monkey; Most Human Bean; Muck & Slime; Rock of Ages; Hot Apple; Bad Beans; Morrigan's Tentacles; Under the Bridge; Where Angels Fear); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; Eternal Boredom; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Creature Feature; Wind Beneath; Abandoned Ship; In the Trench; Surprise!; Turtle-Duck; Sitting Hummingbird; Some Beach; Getting On)  
**Tertiary Bonus Challenges:** DP (Immemorial; Terse; Yearn); TY (Enfant); T3 (Terse; Tether); SN (Rail; Spare); O3 (Ox); SHoE (Terse; Onus)  
**Word Count:** 818

(^^)  
**Needs and Wants  
**Chapter 3: Rocky Start  
(^^)

"Hold on a damn minute," Dean objected. It was difficult to keep his eyes from tracking the kid. Harry seemed to sense the scrutiny because his thin shoulders tensed as he moved up to the trunk—of course, the kid was the one traveling with the most difficult piece of luggage possible. "We're in the middle of trying to stop the end of the world, and Death wants us to _babysit_?"

"The world is always ending, Dean," Tess commented neutrally. "One day it will succeed, no matter what you do or don't do. Regardless, you will deliver Harry to Robert Singer, who will be sitting this one out."

"It's the Apocalypse," Sam protested. Dean finally managed to drag his gaze away from Harry. Sam seemed to be bristling with indignation, despite facing down an entity that could kill with a thought. Tess looked as unphased as always. In fact, with the stupid cardigan on, she looked downright cuddly. "We need everyone we can get! Bobby can't just sit it out."

"Less than two days ago, you planned on him doing so," Tess reminded them both. A fog began to grow around the edges of the unloading bay. That never boded well as a mood indicator for supernatural beings. "This is just a return to that previous status, nothing more. Did Dean not pass along how precious Harry is? _Nothing ranks above him_."

"Oh, and why is that again?" Sam asked recklessly. Dumbass was going to get himself killed if he kept riling up the reaper. No matter how Dean felt about Sam's stupid plan to kamikaze himself to get Lucifer back into the cage, it was still the only one they really had. Sam dying would put a major kink in it.

"I'd like to know, too," came a voice from behind Tess. The voice was as firmly determined as it was British. The reaper was smiling as she moved aside to reveal the kid standing beside his trunk. Despite the determination in his voice, he was bunching the cuffs of his purple sweater in his hands with a grip tight enough to turn his knuckles a pale tan.

"Harry, sweetheart," Tess greeted cheerfully. Of all the things that Dean had seen over the years, a reaper looking like she wanted to bounce on her toes had to be the creepiest. Something about it was more unnatural than anything a demon or creature had ever done. "These are your escorts for the last leg of this trip."

Harry was even smaller close up, which should have been impossible. Speaking of things that should have been impossible, Dean could now see the world-weariness in the kid's eyes. Dean wasn't an expect on kids, but judging by size, Harry couldn't be more than eight or nine.

His idea that Harry was some hunter's kid seemed more likely than not, but something about it still felt off. It wasn't that Dean thought that there weren't hunters in other countries, because he wasn't _stupid_. Anywhere there was creatures, there was going to be hunters. But something in how Harry shifted his weight as if to brace himself before he spoke was throwing off Dean's conclusion.

"I want to know why I was brought here," Harry stated with a raise of his chin. Dean could tell that he was looking Tess directing in the eye, but he got the impression that the act was difficult for the kid for more reasons than how very small he was. "I think I've earned that much, Tess."

"It's not a matter of earning, sweetheart," Tess replied, moving forward quickly. Her hands came up as if to touch the boy, but she froze before making contact. It could have been the flinch that Harry had made but Dean had a feeling it was something else as well. "You never have to earn anything from us, you know. Any reaper would be more than happy to help you."

"Then why won't you tell me what I want to know?"

"It's not time yet, Harry," Tess answered. The fog was thick enough now that Dean could not see more than a dozen feet around them. "Death wants to be the one to tell you, but he's a bit tied up at the moment."

"Understatement," Sam muttered just loud enough to be heard. Harry's unnaturally green eyes cut away from Tess to settle on Dean's idiot brother. Tess turned to glare at Sam. Noticing the gazes, Sam blushed deeper than he had since he was a teenager. He swallowed deeply before pulling himself together. "Uh, hi. I'm Sam Winchester, and this is my brother Dean."

"Harry Potter," the boy returned. He paused after saying the name, as if waiting for something. By the way his shoulders relaxed after a moment, Dean guessed that he didn't get whatever reaction he was fearing.

Who was afraid of being recognized by name alone?


	4. Rotten Timing

**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if need be.

**Author's Note:** I am still a bit miffed about how Season 8 is going. And do you know how difficult it is to be watching a fairly popular show years afterwards for the first time? I can't search wikis or Tumblr for verification purposes because if I do, I risk getting spoiled. Also, binging means that it's really hard to remember which episode things happened in beyond a general "where were they in the Hero's Journey for the season?" way.

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 11); MC4A (WiB; Swap; DP; War; Share; Star; Fence; ER; AV; RoB; MLG; Rum; Cluster; VV; BAON; ToS; StL; SIN; NC; PP; SoC; FF; T3; SN; FR; O3; SHoE)  
**Individual Challenges:** Logical Crossing; No Heterosexual Explanation; Gryffindor MC; Death's Inevitable Master; Sett to Destroy; Finding Family; Hunter MC (x3); Immortal MC; Seeds; Time for Change; Golden Times; New Fandom Smell [Spn] (Y); Old Shoes [HP] (Y); Above Average Natural; Advice from the Mug; Ethnic & Present; Neurodivergent; Quiet Time; Letter of the Day; Booger Breath; Booger Breath Rider; Rian-Russo Inversion; Flags & Ribbons; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon (Y); Yellow Ribbon Redux; The Real MC; Two Cakes!; Green Ribbon  
**House:** Hufflepuff  
**Assignment No.:** Term 11 – Post-Assignments  
**Subject (Task No.):** n/a  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Insane Prompt Challenge [541] ("No Scrubs" - TLC); 365 [202] (Morbid); Galleon Club (Necessary)  
**Space Address (Prompt): **Wi Bingo [5A] (Fireplace/Hearth); Swap [Outer Wear] (College Sweatshirt); Sp Micro 1 (Fusion)**  
Representation(s):** Team Free Will as Family; bisexual Dean Winchester; fallen Castiel; autistic Harry Potter  
**Bonus Challenges: **Hot Stuff; Second Verse (Found Family; Nontraditional; Sneeze Weasel; Zucchini Bread; Middle Name; Mother Hen; Unwanted Advice; Lovely Coconuts; Grease Monkey; Most Human Bean; Rock of Ages; Hot Apple; Bad Beans; Under the Bridge; Where Angels Fear); Chorus (Wabi Sabi; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; Eternal Boredom; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Creature Feature; Wind Beneath; Abandoned Ship; In the Trench; Turtle-Duck; Sitting Hummingbird)  
**Tertiary Bonus Challenges:** DP (Immemorial; Terse; Yearn); T3 (Terse; Tether); SN (Rail; Intercept); FR (Gestation); O3 (Oath); SHoE (Terse; Oblique)  
**Word Count:** 755

(^^)  
**Needs and Wants  
**Chapter 4: Rotten Timing  
(^^)

"I don't get it," Bobby said as they all watched Harry sitting on his trunk in front of the fireplace in Bobby's living room. Dean caught the kid looking around the room every few minutes as if waiting for the other shoe to drop. Otherwise he stayed where he had settled after his initial assessment of the space. "Why would Death send us a kid?"

"Not us," Dean corrected. He kept his eyes on the kid who seemed to be willing to stay put, at least for the moment. Dean rubbed his lips absently. "Both Death and Tess were real clear about how Harry was to be delivered to you, Bobby. Tess went even further when she said that you had to sit this one out."

"So you said," Bobby argued, "but that don't mean that I get it. What am I gonna do with a kid?"

"Maybe raise him?" Sam suggested from his perch on the steps leading upstairs. Bobby scoffed at the very idea. "Okay, probably not. I don't think Death intends for him to be here forever, given what he told Dean and what Tess said, but maybe you're suppose to watch him." The silence was loud despite it being only a heartbeat before Sam continued. "Like how you watched us for Dad."

"I'm not a babysitter," Bobby protested. His voice started raising as he ranted. "We're in the middle of hunting down the damned Devil to shove him back into the one place he don't want to go. I don't have time to waste playing nanny to some seven-year-old! Not to mention that it was hard enough keeping you two idjits alive, what with all the trouble that follows ya. Can you just imagine what kind of trouble this kid is gonna be?"

"I can take care of myself," Harry interrupted, "and I'm nearly thirteen, not _seven_."

Dean and Bobby both spun to face the now-occupied doorway to the living room. Harry tilted his chin up defiantly with his arms flat against his sides. The cuffs of his over-sized sweater fell over his hands, hiding them, but Dean bet they were balled into fists. His brown skin looked darker around his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in however long his reaper trip from England had lasted. One thing was for certain, though, and that was that Harry was way too small to be the age he had just claimed.

Either he was lying, which didn't make sense for more reasons than it not being necessary, or something worse had happened to make the kid so freaking small.

"Aren't you a little…" Sam trailed off, as he shifted to his feet. He stepped closer as he tilted his head downwards to examine the boy. To Harry's credit, he didn't look intimidated at all to be facing someone who was easily twice his height. He just swallowed once before setting his shoulders in the same expectant way he had at the depot. Call him a bit morbid, but Dean got the impression that the kid would face a guaranteed death with the same expression.

"Isn't everyone compared to you?"

"Does my size scare you?" Sam asked, sounding like he was actually worried about that. With enough insolence to be the teenager he claimed he nearly was, Harry rolled his eyes before speaking in a desert-dry tone.

"I've seen bigger."

"That's what she said," Dean said on reflex. Sam and Bobby just groaned. Harry blinked at him as if processing the words took longer. It was not unlike the look that Cas wore whenever Dean said things like that. "Aw, crap. You don't understand sayings either? Why the hell do I keep finding you guys?"

"If memory serves," Castiel answered as he came down the stairs from where he had been taking a nap, "it was I who found you, Dean, and then I raised you from Perdition."

The angel—former angel? It was still weird that he was even alive after his suicide bomber trick, not that Dean wasn't grateful for it—focused on the crowd in the front hall easily picking out the new face. It took more effort than it really should have to move his gaze from the strip of skin showing on Castiel's side where the Standford sweatshirt he had borrowed from Sam had ridden up. When Dean finally managed it, Castiel's expression had become the blank one he wore when surprised. His head tilted to the side like a confused puppy.

"You are… _different_. What are you?"


	5. Ritual Greetings

**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if need be.

**Author's Note:** Guess what's not on my list of things to do in prep for the new semester? That's right! Writing more of this fic. :P

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 12); MC4A (WiB; T3; SN; FR; O3; SHoE; DP; BAON; ToS; StL; SIN; NC; LL; PP; SoC; FF; NCR; Star; Fence; ER; AV; MLG; Rum; Cluster; VV; MT)  
**Individual Challenges:** Logical Crossing; Gryffindor MC; Death's Inevitable Master; Sett to Destroy; Finding Family; Hunter MC (x3); Immortal MC; Seeds; No Proof; Golden Times; New Fandom Smell (Y); Old Shoes (Y); Above Average Natural; Ethnic & Present; Neurodivergent; Quiet Time; Letter of the Day; Booger Breath; Booger Breath Rider; Rian-Russo Inversion; Flags & Ribbons; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux; The Real MC (Y); Two Cakes!  
**House:** Hufflepuff  
**Assignment No.:** Term 12 – Assignment 1  
**Subject (Task No.):** n/a  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Insane Prompt Challenge [58] (Looming); 365 [323] (Understand)  
**Other MC4A Challenges: **Wi Bingo [4B] (Ritual/Tradition)**  
Representation(s):** Team Free Will; Hunters; bisexual Dean Winchester; Autistic Harry Potter  
**Bonus Challenges: **Second Verse (Persistence Still; Found Family; Nontraditional; Sneeze Weasel; Middle Name; Mother Hen; Unwanted Advice; Lovely Coconuts; Grease Monkey; Lyre Liar; Most Human Bean; Rock of Ages; Hot Apple; Bad Beans; Uncivil Obedience; Under the Bridge); Chorus (Wabi Sabi; Peddling Pots; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; Eternal Boredom; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Creature Feature; Wind Beneath; Abandoned Ship; In the Trench; Turtle-Duck; Sitting Hummingbird; Hot Stuff)  
**Tertiary Bonus Challenges:** T3 (Terse; Tether); SN (Rail; Intercept); FR (Gestation); O3 (Ox); SHoE (Oblique; Terse); DP (Immemorial; Terse; Yearn)  
**Word Count:** 665

(^^)  
**Needs and Wants**  
Chapter 05: Ritual Greetings  
(^^)

"I don't understand," Harry answered after a moment of awkward silence. The kid fidgeted with the cuffs of his sweater, his fingers restlessly plucking at the weave. Dean exchanged a look with Bobby, who sighed deep enough that Dean knew even Sammy would pick up on the disappointment. "I'm not being obtuse, you know. I honestly have no clue what you're talking about. I'm—" Harry swallowed with an audible click. "I'm just Harry."

"Are you human?" Castiel asked with his usual amount of tact. Harry looked, if possible, even more confused. Bobby gave another deep sigh and moved around the pint-sized preteen to his desk. No doubt the old man was going to bring back his flask of holy water. "You seem human but also _more_. Are you a creature?"

"Okay," Harry said, drawing out the vowels. His green eyes darted around the space. "Is there anyone here who wants to explain? Because I've had a really weird week and if you knew what my life was normally like, you'd understand just how weird that is. But he sounds like a nutter even in that context."

"Cas, dial the intensity back a notch," Dean told the looming angel. Now Castiel was the one who looked confused. Thankfully, Bobby was approaching with the holy water. He offered it to Harry who didn't take it. "Just take the damn thing, kid."

"It's not going to change me into anyone, is it?" the kid asked as he suspiciously took the silver flask. Bobby grunted thoughtfully. Dean knew that Harry's assumption was going to come up for discussion later. Harry sniffed at the open mouth of the flask. "Smells like salty water."

"That is the basis of holy water," Castiel announced impatiently. Harry raised an eyebrow at the angel. "Demons cannot imbibe it. This tradition is the fastest way of ascertaining if you are possessed."

"Still not the weirdest thing to happen this week," Harry countered. He lifted the flask as if making a toast. Then he upended it and drank down two swallows. Immediately afterwards he pushed the flask into Bobby's hands as he made a disgusted face at the taste. "Ugh, that was horrid. So demons, huh? Is that what Tess is?"

"You don't know?" Sam asked, beating the rest of them to the punch. Harry was plucking at the sweater again. His eyes flicked between the four of them, just as restless as his fingers. His shoulders hunched slightly but his chin raised again. "Tess is a reaper. She works for Death."

"So that's not, like, a code name, then?" Harry looked like he was thinking impossibly fast. "Do you think my relatives are dead? Tess just said that they were unable to take me back this summer and arrangements had been made for alternative placement when she picked me up at King's Cross."

"Let me get this straight," Dean said as he crossed his arms. "Some stranger just shows up and tells you that they've made arrangements for you to stay somewhere other than your relatives and you just go with them, no real questions asked?"

"Well, yeah," Harry confirmed. He gave a shrug like he didn't understand how dangerous that could have been. "My relatives don't really like me anyway, and the last couple of years have been extra tense because of—well, because of _everything_, and then when I ran away last summer, I was expecting some kind of issue when I came back from school, no matter what the headmaster implied about smoothing things over with them." Harry wrapped his arms around himself. "Honestly, I just figured that they had finally decided to make good on the threat to put me out."

"You didn't think it strange that you were being sent to a different country?"

"My entire life is strange," Harry said drily. "I've learned not to worry too much about it."

"Well, this is just dandy," Bobby announced. "I've got another one of you idjits to take care of."


	6. Right Here

**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if need be.

**Author's Note:** So happy quarantine? With the school working remotely (mostly), the library here has been fairly dead. Thus I have found extra time for writing and binging shows. Guess what? I'm even more peeved in season 9 than I was before.

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 12); MC4A  
**Individual Challenges:** Gryffindor MC; Magical MC; Hunter MC (x3); Immortal MC; Hold the Mayo; Ethnic & Present; Rian-Russo Inversion; Neurodivergent; Booger Breath; Claimed; Zed Era; Old Shoes (Y); New Fandom Smell; Above Average Natural; In a Flash; The Real MC (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon  
**House:** Hufflepuff  
**Assignment No.:** Term 12 – Assignment 6  
**Subject (Task No.):** n/a  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Insane Prompt Challenge [975](Logical); 365 [75](Direction); Hello Spring [15](Hope); Crazy Cone Contraptions [15]("Ignore [name/pronoun]. [Name/pronoun]'s a little...yeah.")  
**Other MC4A Challenges: **Sp Bingo [1E](Childhood); Tr Bingo [1C](Captain Obvious); Hunt [Sp Writing Diversity](Bisexual Character)**  
Representation(s):** Bisexual Dean Winchester; Team Free Will as Family; Autistic Harry Potter  
**Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: **Persistence Still; Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Demo (Found Family; Spinning Plates; Corvid Brain); Demo (Machismo; Tomorrow's Shade; Unicorn; Misshapen Pods)  
**Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges:** T3 (Terse; Thimble)  
**Word Count:** 752

(^^)  
**Needs and Wants**  
Chapter 06: Right Here  
(^^)

"You don't—" Harry started only to freeze as they all turned their gazes at him. He swallowed loud enough that it could be heard. Dean could also see how Harry's dark fingers were rubbing the cuffs of his purple sweater again. Without unfolding his arms, Harry squared his shoulders in a way that would have made Dad proud. Those impossibly green eyes focused on Bobby. "You don't need to, sir. I really can take care of myself. I don't even have to stay, if that's too much of a bother."

"And just where would you go?" Bobby asked, sounding like he was struggling to keep from yelling. Dean snorted because he could predict what the kid was going to say. He had said it himself a few hundred times, and he had heard it from even more from other kids. Hell, even Sammy had declared it before running off a few times.

"I'll figure it out," Harry said, right on script.

The more time Dean spent around the kid, the more he saw bits of himself and Sam in the kid. Harry might not be a hunter's kid like Dean had initially suspected, but the kid had definitely seen some stuff along the same lines. Harry acted too much like he was expecting everything to go to hell at any time and that he would be the only one who could fix it. What was more, all the tells were too ingrained to be just from being sent to another country.

"I thought human children required adult supervision," Castiel said. "If you are truly human, then should you not stay here where you may be supervised?"

"Dude," Dean scolded, because there was caution and then there was paranoia, and the line was making a kid flinch like Harry just did at the implication that he wasn't human. Dean then addressed Harry. "Ignore Cas. He's a little…yeah."

"Can none of you feel the difference in him?" Castiel asked, getting that confused look on his face again. It was cuter than the situation warranted. "My senses are dulled from having my grace so depleted, and I can still feel it screaming. Whatever this boy is, he is not human as he claims. He is something else." Then Castiel blinked as if he had just been hit by something. "Why is he here anyway? Did he come with the package from Death? Why are you waving your arms like that, Dean?"

Dean dropped his attempts to signal Castiel to stop talking without interrupting. He scrubbed a hand over his face in sync with Bobby. Looking like he was trying not to laugh, Sam grabbed Harry's shoulders and turned the kid towards the kitchen before starting them moving in that direction.

"I think I spotted a cake in the fridge before we left for the depot earlier," Sam told the boy. "Hopefully, it's still there and Castiel didn't eat all."

"I was the package, wasn't I?" Harry asked, undeterred by Sam's blatant change of subject even as he allowed himself to be shuffled into the kitchen. The rest of them were following behind like ducks. "Is that why… I really can take care of myself, and I can help out—"

"Absolutely not," Bobby snapped. Dean winced as he heard Harry's teeth click as he shut his mouth. Sam still had the kid by his shoulders, which made the half-hunch-half-curl thing Harry was suddenly doing make him seem even smaller. It was almost like the kid physically shrank before their very eyes. Bobby growled like Dean hadn't heard him do since he and Sammy had been kids. "No matter what you think you can do, you are still a kid and I ain't gonna let you actively fight the Apocalypse even if we weren't ordered to stay out of the action."

"But—"

"No 'buts' about it, boy," Bobby continued. Dean caught the flinch that Harry tried to hide, and judging by how Sam shifted his hold, his brother had as well. "You are going to stay here, and you are going to stay safe. You wanna help with anything? I've got some household stuff I could use some help getting back to scruff while these three knuckleheads are out throwing the Devil into his kennel. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Harry said, not meeting any of their eyes. "I understand."

"Good. There's hope for you yet." Bobby sat in his spot at the table. "Now take a load off. Sam was gonna get us all cake."


	7. Reading In

**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if need be.

**Author's Note:** I should be working on projects that are due Friday. Instead, I decided to feed Harry.

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 12); MC4A  
**Individual Challenges:** Gryffindor MC; Magical MC; Hunter MC (x3); Immortal MC; Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion; Ethnic & Present; Booger Breath; Claimed; Hold the Mayo; Zed Era; Old Shoes (Y); New Fandom Smell (Y); Above Average Natural; In a Flash; The Real MC (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon  
**House:** Hufflepuff  
**Assignment No.:** Term 12 – Assignment 6  
**Subject (Task No.):** n/a  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Insane Prompt Challenge [516](Hurt/Comfort); 365 [260](Reaper); Crazy Cone Contraptions [18](Blushing/Flushing); Hello Spring [05](Lemon & Blueberry Cake); Days of the Year [4/10] (Write about a strong bond between siblings); Tarot Card [05] (New Beginnings); Hufflepuff Prompts [T02] (Dedicated)  
**Other MC4A Challenges: **Sp Bingo [3E](Sweet); Tr Bingo [4C](Damsel in Distress); Hunt [Sp Consumables](Sandwich)**  
Representation(s):** autistic Harry Potter; Bisexual Dean Winchester; Team Free Will as Family  
**Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: **Persistence Still; Odd Feathers; Pocky Pockets; Wabi Sabi; Demo (Found Family; Muck & Slime); Demo (Machismo; Tomorrow's Shade; Unicorn; Soul-Like; Hot Stuff; Misshapen Pods)  
**Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges:** T3 (Terse; Tether)  
**Word Count:** 858

(^^)  
**Needs and Wants**  
Chapter 7: Reading In  
(^^)

Dean knew how to spot a lot of different things. He had learned it growing up on the road, and it had kept both him and Sammy alive more than once. It wasn't exactly a talent that he could shut off when it wasn't needed, but that only kept him sharp. When monsters can look like anyone, a hunter had to be able to spot the tiny tells that gave them away, the little things that marked them as different.

Despite his protesting to the contrary, there _was_ something different about Harry. It wasn't just how interested Death and the reapers were in the kid either. Something in how he carried himself was just _off_. He had no problem standing up to anyone, no matter how potentially dangerous, and yet when Bobby had gotten gruff, the kid had clammed up faster than an angel banishment worked. His clothes were clean and in decent repair (very worn but without rips or tears), but they were all at least three sizes too large for Harry's scrawny frame.

That was another thing.

Harry was _tiny_, nowhere near the size that a kid his age should be. Now, his defensiveness of his being nearly thirteen made sense in that regard, even if Dean would have tried using the assumption of a younger age (and presumed innocence that accompanied it) to his advantage. There were only a limited number of reasons that a kid would be that small. There were even fewer reasons that were accompanied by sharp features and knobby wrists.

The real clincher was when Harry made a chunk of cake wrapped in a paper napkin disappear without Dean being able to tell where it went. That kind of slight of hand was definitely typical of a hunter. Not all clues could be collected in an official manner, after all. Now Jody's lemon and blueberry cake was tasty, but the way that Harry was stashing portions, Dean wasn't certain if Harry knew that.

By the way that Bobby kept signaling for Sam to put another piece in front of Harry, Dean knew that he must have noticed it, too.

The kid still needed something more than cake.

"Hey, Sammy," Dean asked, "did you see any sandwich fixings while you were rummaging through the fridge?"

"What? Oh, yeah—uh, just let me—" Sam went to stand up, but Dean clapped him on the shoulder and got up instead. As Dean was pulling out Bobby's surprisingly extensive supplies, Sam cleared his throat. "Should we—I mean, Harry probably isn't aware of the current situation, so we should explain, right?"

"I'm sorry," Bobby interrupted, "but what part of _he's a kid_ did you not understand?"

"The part where you already mentioned the Apocalypse," Sam countered drily, "and if we don't explain how we're not religious nuts, Harry may decide to take off?" Dean hummed in agreement as he set about making a stack of plain turkey and cheese sandwiches. Emboldened, Sam continued. "Look, no one is saying that Harry needs to be front and center on this—even if Death hadn't pretty much demanded that the kid and you stayed put, this kind of stuff isn't safe. But this place is, like, hunter central even when it's not the end of the world, and hiding things is not gonna work out for anybody."

"Then there's the little tidbit about how potentially being possessed by a demon is not the weirdest thing to happen for the kid," Dean commented as he began putting away the sandwich supplies. He glanced at Harry, whose dark face was flushing just like Sam's had at that age whenever he figured out that he had spoken too much. He had pulled both his hands into his overly long sleeves and was worrying his bottom lip, too. All while being obvious about _not_ looking anywhere near where Castiel was standing nearby. "Kid says his entire life is strange enough that he doesn't worry too much about it, even when he gets dragged to the middle of a different country. Something tells me that he isn't exactly a stranger to these kinds of things."

"Fine," Bobby agreed, "but you had better top me off before you sit down, because ain't no way I can handle this with only one cup of coffee."

Rolling his eyes, Dean grabbed the coffee pot and did just that for both Bobby and Sam. Putting the coffee pot back on the warming plate, Dean picked up the plate of sandwiches. He sat it on the table in front of his spot as he sat back down in his spot between Harry and Bobby. Sam raised an eyebrow at him from across the table before taking one of the sandwiches. Almost absently, Sam then pushed the plate towards Harry.

"You know about demons and reapers being real," Bobby started, "but they ain't the only ones. The whole kit and kaboodle are, too. Angels, werewolves, vampires—pretty much all of the creatures from folklore. Magic's real, too."

"Okay," Harry commented, dragging out both syllables and sounding a bit more like a teenager. "Is that supposed to be news?"


	8. Real Magic

**Legal Disclaimer: **I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. There's also canon typical references to child abuse and the end of the world. Feel free to back out if need be.

**Author's Note: **Just so everyone understands, each chapter of this is considered a different submission for the forums that I am a part of. Despite the similarities, the submitting information does change slightly with each chapter, and it does need to be in every chapter. Shockingly, I do actually know what I am doing.

**Submitting Info:  
****Stacked with: **Hogwarts (Term 12); MC4A  
**Individual Challenges:** Gryffindor MC; Magical MC; Hunter MC (x3); Immortal MC; Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion; Ethnic & Present; Booger Breath; Claimed; Hold the Mayo; Zed Era; Old Shoes (Y); New Fandom Smell (Y); Above Average Natural; In a Flash; The Real MC (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon  
**House:** Slytherin  
**Assignment No.: **Term 12 – Assignment 9  
**Subject (Task No.):** n/a  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Insane Prompt Challenge [812](No using "Said"); 365 [57](Connected); Geek Pride [Supernatural] (Supernatural x HPverse)  
**Other MC4A Challenges: **Sp Bingo [2E](Planting/Sowing); Tr Bingo [3E](Only Sane Man); Ship [Sp Medium 2](Sandwich); Chim [Doug] (Family/Friendship; "Human" by Rag'n'Bone Man)  
**Representation(s): **Team Free Will as Family; Desi & Autistic Harry Potter; Depressed Dean Winchester; Dean Winchester/Castiel QPR  
**Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges:** Middle Name; Mother Hen; Unwanted Advice; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; Second Verse (Found Family; Nontraditional; Teat Juice; Zucchini Bread); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Rediscovery)  
**Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges:** T3 (Terse; Tether); SN (Rail; Ameliorate)  
**Word Count: **818

(^^)  
**Needs and Wants**  
Chapter 8: Real Magic  
(^^)

"Okay, so what—are you some kind of hunter's kid?" Sam asked. Dean leaned forward, preparing to interrupt. Sam just shook his head before pointing at Dean with his sandwich. "I know what you're gonna say, Dean, but it makes sense. Monsters exist all over the world, so there's gotta be hunters in other countries, right? Hunters are just people. They have kids. Angels, demons, and reapers aren't exactly run of the mill—which would explain why Harry hadn't heard of them—but werewolves and vampires make up as many of our cases as ghosts."

"And the magic?" Dean responded, curious now how far his brother would go with this. Sam wasn't completely wrong. At least, the basic logic he was using was sound. He had just skipped over a few pieces of information. Hell, maybe Sammy hadn't even noticed the way being near the kid felt a bit like being near a live current. His brother never did seem to have picked up the knack of noticing when someone had a bit _extra_ going on with them.

Either way, Dean was willing to bet that the kid had some mojo of his own and major mojo at that. _Death_ had declared him more important than the end of the world, after all, and Tess had practically doted on the kid. Combined with Castiel's declaration about Harry's _difference_ from others, Dean was more than willing to accept that the kid was something more than standard fare human, regardless of what the kid believed.

"You're not talking about hunting deer or pheasants," Harry muttered as if the idea was just occurring to him. "You…aren't wizards? You're Muggles?" He turned pale under his dark complexion. "And I just announced that—actually, you announced that magic was real, first. I can't be blamed for you knowing." Harry looked at them all with wide eyes, clearly desperate for them to agree with that last point. "I can't be blamed."

"Yeah, you can't be blamed," Dean agreed as the kid passed worried and began to barrel straight to full blown panic. Dean didn't have to know why the situation was causing this reaction to recognize how imperative reassuring the kid probably was. "I don't know what a 'muggle' is, but none of us are wizards. I mean, we all know some basic traps and sigils, and Cas is an angel—"

"—was an angel," Castiel interrupted. Dean raised an eyebrow at him. "My grace isn't replenishing. I may not have fallen, but I'm not an angel, Dean."

"The point just flies over your head, man," Dean announced as he shook his head in disbelief. Harry was still staring at them with green eyes that were just a touch too wide to be healthy. At least he seemed to be breathing a little more evenly than he had been just a moment before. "It's like you don't even try to get it as it goes by."

"I can tell that you are using a metaphor," Cas replied stiffly, "but I do not understand what you are trying to imply with it. Are you planning on throwing knives? I will endeavor to catch them."

"And that is why we love Cas," Sam declared, gesturing towards the angel with his sandwich. "He's just a barrel of laughs."

"You don't understand metaphors either?" Harry asked after he twisted himself to look at the angel. Castiel nodded solemnly. "I have a notebook where I have gathered a list of explanations. It's still rather short, because Hermione's really suspicious about me asking about things like that and Ron always gives this weird laugh if I ask him, but I am willing to share my research."

"I would appreciate that," Castiel replied. "Perhaps I will begin my own list and we could compare notes. Regardless of my deep connection with Dean, I will admit that he does not always make sense."

"I'm starting to see what you mean," Harry agreed far too readily to be anything but sassy. Dean was torn between being grumpy about the attitude or relieved that the kid was relaxing enough to show it in the first place. Bobby didn't seem to have the same mixed feelings.

"Oh, yeah," Bobby announced as he took a sandwich of his own and lifted the bread to examine the insides, "you'll fit right in with the rest of the family, alright. You've got all the qualifications: reckless, stubborn, and overall, just a plain idjit."

"Does that make you the head idjit?" Sam asked with a gleam in his eyes. Bobby threw a chunk of the cheese he had just pulled off his sandwich at Sam. Without thinking about it, Sammy caught it and popped it into his mouth. Then he grinned at the older man like the lunatic he was.

Dean sighed as he hid a grin of his own. The world may be ending, but at least he was facing it with family.

(^^)  
To Be Continued  
(^^)


	9. Rethink

**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if need be.

**Author's Note:** This chapter is brought to you by Hogwarts Auction. As a reminder, yes, I do know what I'm doing when I include all of the meta data that I do.

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 13); MC4A  
**Individual Challenges:** Gryffindor MC; Magical MC; Hunter MC; Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion; Ethnic & Present; Claimed; Hold the Mayo; Zed Era; Old Shoes (Y); New Fandom Smell (Y); Above Average Natural; Endings; In a Flash; The Real MC (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y)  
**House:** Slytherin  
**Assignment No.:** Term 13 – Assignment 04  
**Subject (Task No.):** n/a  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Insane Prompt Challenge [46](Hesitate); 365 [157](Implication); Auction [29-4](Supernatural); Like a Skyscraper [1-06](Mesmerizing); Pick a Wick [05](Blanket); Build a Better Breakfast [27](Apocalypse AU)  
**Other MC4A Challenges: **FaB [3C](Gathering); Set [1C](Daytime);Hunt [Fa Items](Blanket); Chim [Deke](Royal Purple); Ship (Mixtape)[Fa Big](Blanket); Fire [Hard](Imagine Chapters); Garden [](); Hangman [Phase 01](Family)**  
Representation(s):** Bi Dean/Castiel QPR; Desi & Autistic Harry Potter; Team Free Will as Family  
**Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: **Hot Apple; Turtle-Duck; Second Verse (Found Family; Nontraditional; Zucchini Bread; Middle Name; Unwanted Advice; Lovely Coconuts; Grease Monkey; Lyre Liar); Chorus (Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Abandoned Ship; In the Trench)  
**Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges:** T3 (Terse; Toad); SN (Rail; Spare); FR (Satisfaction); O3 (Oath); War (Obstruction; Sanctuary; Ennui)  
**Word Count:** 745

(^^)  
**Needs and Wants**  
Chapter 9: Rethink  
(^^)

After they finished their makeshift meal of sandwiches and tea cake, they had drifted away. Dean had elected to help the kid get his trunk up the stairs to one of Bobby's guest rooms. Harry was going to have to share with someone. At least, Dean figured that was a bit more responsible than rearranging one of them to give the kid a room to himself. It was just a better idea to keep someone near the kid until they got a better handle on what his deal was.

Dean didn't hesitate at all as he led Harry into his own room.

The kid, however, hovered in the doorway. He had his hands tucked into the sleeves of the opposite hand. His brown skin looked washed out, almost gray. The royal purple of the sweater just highlighted that. He looked like he was going to either be sick or take off running.

Dean pursed his lips and set the kid's trunk at the foot of the twin bed shoved in the far corner. It was good that Harry knew better than to trust every situation as blindly as he had things so far. Of course, he could have done without the kid distrusting him, especially with that particular implication. None of them meant any harm to the kid. Hell, Bobby would already burn the world to keep Harry safe and they've known him less than six hours.

But a little distrust would do the kid a world of good, especially with the interest that Death and the reapers had in him. In all of Dean's experience, whenever a supernatural group showed an interest in an individual person, it was never in that individual's best interests alone. They always had an alternative motive, and it was usually something that ended with a whole lot of messy, messy bloodshed.

"So I figure that we can bunk together," Dean said as if the kid wasn't on the verge of a heart attack ten feet away from him. He smoothed down the already smooth blanket on the bed. "Having slept in the same room as Sammy and Cas, I can safely say that you'll appreciate it. Trust me when I say that you'll thank me. Sammy snores, and Cas, well, the dude sleeps with his eyes open. It's creepy."

"Is Cas really an angel?" Harry asked. Dean glanced at him. Harry seemed to be examining the stack of books on the dresser near the door. He stroked along the spine of one that was written mostly in some squiggly script that reminded Dean of Arabic or Sanskrit or maybe some combination of the two. Harry hissed something sounded like a question. The sound was actually kind of mesmerizing.

Dean shook his head to clear it of the odd feeling.

"Uh, yeah, Cas really is an angel," he answered after letting the silence go on a beat too long. "Well, like he said, the jury's out on it. He was an angel, and he, uh, he sort of blew himself up. We weren't even sure that he had survived until he called us from a hospital where he had been in a coma. He's sort of in between states right now. Not quite human but not really an angel. So he's still figuring out how it all works. You should have seen his face the first time he had a burger."

"I haven't had one," Harry said in a tone that sounded disinterested. Or at least it would have if Dean wasn't already well versed in all of the varieties of flatness Castiel could manifest. Also, Dean didn't need a tone for those words to stab him in the heart.

"Ah, man," Dean said as he threw himself back on his bed, "that just sucks. Next you'll tell me that you've never had pizza."

"That is my cousin's favorite food," Harry said, still rubbing the book with the strange writing. "It always looked and smelled good. I wasn't allowed any, though."

"Oh, we've gotta fix that," Dean declared. Harry looked at him in the same confused puppy way that Cas used when he didn't quite follow Dean's line of thought. Dean spoke without thinking. "Maybe after all this apocalypse business is over, we can take a trip up to Chicago. Deep dish pizza is their specialty."

"Sure," Harry agreed, but he sounded like he wasn't expecting it to happen. Well, there was only one way to prove otherwise, wasn't there?


	10. Recognize

**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. There is also blatant discussion of Harry's self-image as shaped by the Dursleys in this chapter. Harry even uses a racial slur in reference to his own racial group. Even outside of slur, the terms "freakish" and "freak" come up. Feel free to back out if need be.

**Author's Note:** So, a few things to mention here outside of the warnings above. First is that it seems to be a recurring bit of… let's call it "confusion"… which I would like to address, even more than how the story addresses it in this chapter. Harry is Desi/Indian because _that's what his parents were_. Yes, both of them. Yes, Lily still had her red hair & green eyes. Yes, all of the Dursleys are still white. No, none of this conflicts. The real life biology all checks out.

The other recurring issue I've noticed is that people seem to be misunderstanding Harry's age (which I have stated _again_ in this chapter in addition to this note). If someone is _nearly_ an age, they are not _currently_ that age. Since Harry is _nearly_ thirteen, he is not _currently_ thirteen. This means that he is _twelve_. Harry's age is also not because deaging or time travel. It's because that's how old he is.

**Timeline Specifics:** Supernatural S05-Ep22 (Swan Song); Post-Chamber of Secrets/Pre-Prisoner of Azkaban; Currently Second Week of July 2010

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 13); MC4A  
**Individual Challenges:** Inevitable; Gryffindor MC; Hunter MC; Criminal MC; Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion; Ethnic & Present; Claimed; Hold the Mayo; Zed Era; New Fandom Smell (Y); Old Shoes (Y); Above Average Natural; Endings; In a Flash; The Real MC (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon  
**House:** Slytherin  
**Assignment No.:** Term 13 – Assignment 04  
**Subject (Task No.):** n/a  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Insane Prompt Challenge [692](Alice Walker quotation); 365 [208](Mojo); Like a Skyscraper [2-1](Hurt/Comfort); Pick a Wick [16 Brownie](Family); Build a Better Breakfast [27 Salmon](Apocalypse AU)  
**Other MC4A Challenges: **FaB [2E](Ghost/Specter); Set [2B](At Night);Chim [Karma](n/a); Fire [Hard](Bearing the Crossover); Garden [Bed Types](At Night)/[Chore List](Arguing/Debating)/[Plant Types](Found Family)/[Garden Tools](Sweater/Jumper)/[Crossover Galore](Race-Bent AU)/[HPverse](Gryffindor N/PR); Hunt [Fa WD](Anxiety)/[Fa Con](Pie)**  
Representation(s):** Desi & Autistic Harry Potter; Depressed & Bi Dean Winchester; Team Free Will as Family  
**Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: **Hot Apple; Turtle-Duck; Second Verse (Found Family; Nontraditional; Middle Name; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; Lovely Coconuts; Grease Monkey; Lyre Liar; Muck & Slime); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Rediscovery; Fire Song; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; A Long Dog; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Abandoned Ship; In the Trench); Demo 1 (Bad Beans; Uncivil Obedience; Under the Bridge; Horrible Love); Demo 2 (Forked Path; Sitting Hummingbird; Hot Stuff; Mermaid)  
**Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges:** T3 (Terse; Toad); SN (Rail; Negate); O3 (Oust)  
**Word Count:** 771

(^^)  
**Needs and Wants**  
Chapter 10: Recognize  
(^^)

A day and a half didn't seem like it should have been long enough to establish any kind of pattern, but Dean had always been good at picking up on those kinds of things. So he noticed that Harry went out of his way to be useful. Harry wasn't obvious about what he was doing, exactly. Certainly not in the same way that Sam and him had been as kids, when things like doing the dishes or cleaning the bathroom meant one of them was belly-aching to the other about the injustice. Dean was fairly certain that he was still wearing the same purple sweater and baggy jeans that he had been wearing when they had picked him up from the bus depot, too.

"Are you sure you're almost a teenager?" Dean asked finally. He had watched from the kitchen doorway as Harry had scrubbed Bobby's cast iron skillet with only water and a bristly brush to remove the food remains. Then the kid had carefully wiped in a bit of cooking oil before heating the skillet on the stove, just like the fancy cooking shows that Bobby pretended he didn't watch suggested. Harry was now staring at Dean like he had just been caught shoplifting or murdering someone. "Because I'm thinking you're a middle-aged housewife instead."

"No one would want to marry me," Harry replied with an odd note to the usual flatness of his voice. He shifted the focus of his green eyes so that he appeared like he wasn't still staring at Dean. It was a clever dissemble, because Dean knew the kid was still watching him like a mouse hoping to escape a snake.

"I don't know about that," Dean countered. He moved towards the table to pull out a chair. He turned it and straddled the seat so that the back was between him and Harry. "You seem to like cooking, at least." Dean hesitated before deciding to test a hunch he had about the kid. "If you wanted anything specific, we could get it for you. I don't think Sammy could handle anything particularly spicy, though. Curry might make him cry like the big baby he is."

"I don't know how to make that," Harry admitted, sounding like he was embarrassed. His brown cheeks darkened just a bit in the way that Dean was beginning to recognize would be a bright blush on anyone pale like him or Sam. "My relatives weren't fans of foreign food."

"So they aren't like you?" Dean asked, careful to sound like the answer didn't matter either way. Harry rocked just slightly in place. Dean probably wouldn't have noticed the motion if he wasn't already looking for any of Harry's tells. Eventually, Harry shook his head without saying a word. "That musta sucked. Do they have mojo like you at least?"

"No," Harry whispered, something sharply bitter lacing his tone now, "they're normal that way, too."

"Hey now," Dean said, not fully planning what he was going to say but knowing that he had to say something about that phrasing, "there's nothing wrong with the way you are, Harry."

"Yeah, sure," Harry agreed, suddenly sounding like he was exhausted. The green in his eyes had dulled to a more natural hue. Instead of reassuring Dean, all it did was make him feel like he had kicked a puppy. "Nothing's freakish about me at all."

"That's true," Dean confirmed. His grip tightened on the back of the chair as he fought the urge to grind his teeth. "Ain't a single thing about you that's freakish, kid. Not a damn thing, no matter what your relatives may have told you."

"I've seen others, you know," Harry bit out. "Pakis, that is. I know—I know I don't look normal." Harry looked at Dean fully then. His green eyes shimmered with unshed tears. "Everyone says how much I look like my dad but with my mother's eyes, but last year, when I finally got photos of them, I noticed that her eyes are just a normal green. Even with her red hair, she looked normal, despite looking nothing like Aunt Petunia." Harry shook his head. "I know what I am."

"Yeah, well, you're wrong," Dean said just as stubbornly as he once told Sammy over those damn visions. "You're no more a freak than any other twelve-year-old in this god-forsaken world and certainly not for something as stupid as your fucking eye color." Dean shoved himself to his feet. "Come on. Let's get out of here before we get drafted to help with research."

"Uh, what?" Harry asked, clearly thrown off by the sudden topic shift. His eyes nervously cut to the darkness outside the window over the sink.

"We're done with the chick flick moment," Dean declared, "and now we're going out for pie."

(^^)  
_To Be Continued_  
(^^)


End file.
